On Tuesday night, the “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC applauded the victory Monday night by the leftist Liberal Party in Canada and leader Justin Trudeau, whom they declared to be the country’s “young, new leader” possessing “a little northern star power.” In contrast, when looking at reelection victories earlier in the year by the right-leaning David Cameron in the United Kingdom and Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel, the networks were far less kind and chastised the pair for an “undercurrent of nastiness” and “hard-line rhetoric” coming “at a price.”
Gabe Gutierrez
CBS’s Pelley: Clerk Going to Jail Possibly ‘the Last Front in a Losing Battle Against Same-Sex Marriage’
By Curtis Houck | September 4, 2015 | 12:16 AM EDT At the top of Thursday’s CBS Evening News, anchor Scott Pelley proclaimed that the jailing of Rowan County, Kentucky Democratic Clerk Kim Davis “could be the last front in a losing battle against same-sex marriage” as she had been refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples since the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling legalizing gay marriage on June 26.
By Curtis Houck | July 1, 2015 | 9:54 PM EDT
On the heels of President Barack Obama’s announcement on Wednesday that the United States and Cuba will soon open respective embassies in Havana and Washington, the “big three” of ABC, CBS, and NBC covered the story on their evening newscasts with ABC and NBC expressing particular enthusiasm at the move and little to no criticism of the President’s Cuba policy. In addition, the networks failed to label Cuba’s government as communist with ABC and NBC further declining to bring up the authoritarian nature of the Cuban government.
By Matthew Balan | June 5, 2015 | 9:39 PM EDT
Friday's NBC Nightly News gave former Democratic Representative Barney Frank a platform to blast his former Republican peers in Congress, as it covered the Dennis Hastert scandal. Frank asserted that the issue is "a reminder of the hypocrisy especially among my Republican colleagues. Dennis Hastert became Speaker to preside over the impeachment of Bill Clinton. He then went on, as Speaker, to put before the House twice, constitutional amendments that would have banned same-sex marriage."
By Jeffrey Meyer | April 2, 2015 | 11:21 AM EDT
During NBC’s coverage of Indiana and Arkansas’s religious freedom bills on Thursday morning, Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd did his best to tie the potential 2016 Republican presidential candidates to the ongoing religious freedom debate.
By Curtis Houck | April 2, 2015 | 12:20 AM EDT
Following five straight days where the network evening newscasts slammed Indiana for passing its Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), Arkansas joined the barrage of criticism on Wednesday after Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson requested the legislature make changes to its own version. The CBS Evening News failed to mention how a small Indiana pizza parlor has been forced to at least temporarily shutter after receiving violent threats while NBC Nightly News only said that the shop closed after “so much criticism online.”
By Jeffrey Meyer | April 1, 2015 | 11:47 AM EDT
On Wednesday morning, the “Big Three” (ABC, CBS, and NBC) networks implemented a new tactic in its effort to smear Indiana’s religious freedom law by hyping a similar law that just made its way through the Arkansas legislature and its opposition from the CEO of Walmart.
By Curtis Houck | April 1, 2015 | 12:33 AM EDT
For the fifth straight night, the major broadcast networks used their evening newscasts to blast the State of Indiana on Tuesday for sparking an “uproar” and “national outcry” over its Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) while also choosing to heavily promote the arguments of opponents.
By Curtis Houck | March 30, 2015 | 10:35 PM EDT
On their Monday evening newscasts, the major broadcast networks kept up their attacks on the State of Indiana for having enacted a religious freedom law that aims to protect individuals from government infringement based on their religious beliefs. While ABC, CBS, and NBC mentioned that there are those supporting the law, their coverage continued to veer off in a slanted direction against the law by painting Republicans as being “in damage control mode” while the “avalanche of criticism” continues to grow.
By Kyle Drennen | March 30, 2015 | 2:26 PM EDT
Early on Monday's NBC Today, fill-in co-host Willie Geist hyped "the growing debate over a controversial law that critics call anti-gay....[who] say it permits businesses, among other things, to refuse service to same-sex couples on religious grounds." Correspondent Gabe Gutierrez followed: "This morning a huge backlash against Indiana's new Religious Freedom Restoration Act and Governor Mike Pence is on the defensive."
Networks Failed to Expose Doubts in Rolling Stone Rape Story; Devoted 11 Minutes on Evening Shows to Initial Report
By Curtis Houck | December 6, 2014 | 1:40 AM EST When the now-retracted article by the Rolling Stone magazine was published on November 19 about a brutal gang rape of a first-year student at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house at the University of Virginia, the major broadcast networks rushed to the story and devoted multiple segments to both the article and reaction on the school’s campus. In doing so, they failed (unlike other outlets) to point out its flaws that brought an apology from the liberal magazine on Friday afternoon after it came to realize that many of the key facts in the story were in serious doubt.
By Kyle Drennen | October 30, 2014 | 5:41 PM EDT
In the only full report on the upcoming midterm election on Thursday's NBC Today, correspondent Gabe Gutierrez shared his journey aboard the "Pot Bus" in Florida, a campaign effort urging voters to back legalized medical marijuana in the state: "...supporters say that they've made about 200 stops over the past few months to rally support....It's a ride full of high hopes."